Irving Carson, the first journalist killed in war. Special guests Civilwarhumor and Mayhayley's Grave.Continue ReadingThe First Journalist Killed In War

Alice Getty and the Musical Skull

Jan 21st, 2020 18m 44s

Every year, thousands of people walk past the landmark Getty tomb in Chicago’s Graceland Cemetery to admire the architecture. Designed by Louis Sullivan, it’s perhaps the most perfect example of Sullivan’s style. Almost no one who sees it reali

Son of a Dickens

Dec 29th, 2019 22m 50s

Today we travel to Moline, IL’s Riverside Cemetery to find the unlikely burial place of Francis Jeffrey Dickens, third son of Charles Dickens – and check out some other Dickens family graves (all of which are more about Charles than the person

The Man Who Shot Andrew Jackson

Dec 12th, 2019 26m

iTunes Spotify In 1806, Andrew Jackson and Charles Dickinson fought a duel near the KY-TN border. Dickinson was killed, but the story goes that Jackson took a bullet to the chest and carried it around for the rest of his life. But did he really

Elizabeth Keckley and Jefferson Davis’s Dress

Aug 14th, 2018 22m

Here’s one that, until very recently, would have had be called “Cemetery Mixtape: Unmarked.” Elizabeth Keckley (or Keckly) was born a slave, bought her freedom as an adult, and became a modiste (dressmaker) for Mary Todd Lincoln throughout her

The Bones of Button Gwinnett

Jul 6th, 2018 27m 4s

For this month’s podcast, we take a deep dive RIGHT into the grave of Button Gwinnett. Button Gwinnett was one of America’s least illustrious founding fathers. Though his very brief political career put him in the right place at the right time

Bring me the Head of George Frederick Cooke

May 29th, 2018 25m 34s

By some accounts, George Frederick Cooke was the greatest tragedian actor of the late 18th and early 19th century; his portrayal of Shakespeare’s Richard III was second to none. Whether he was Scottish, Irish or British was debated in his time;

Frederick Douglass (and the Garfield Grave Robbers)

May 2nd, 2018 24m 40s

Now on Spotify! Several years back, I took a trip to Cleveland just to see the tomb of President Garfield after hearing a news story that someone had broken into the crypt and stolen several commemorative spoons. This, I had to see for myself!

Joseph Wicher, Killed By Jesse James

Feb 27th, 2018 25m 25s

In the Pinkerton Detective Agency lot at Graceland, most of the graves are worn down and illegible. Which is probably why it took me so long to find out that a victim of Jesse James is buried there! Joseph W. Wicher, killed by the James Gang

Charles McKnight, Alexander Hamilton and The Doctors Mob

Feb 27th, 2018 27m 40s

Charles McKnight, buried at Trinity Church in lower Manhattan, was a revolutionary war surgeon and, at times, physician to George Washington. Was Alexander Hamilton among the founding fathers who protected him from an anti-grave robbing mob in

Kathryn Evans, Who Saw Lincoln Shot

Feb 27th, 2018 25m 1s

Kathryn M. Evans had the first line in Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theater the night that President Lincoln was assassinated there. She went on to a long career, eventually retiring in Chicago, where she once had a reunion with another old ca

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